SPRINGFIELD, Mass. --October 2, 2007 -- Paced behind the outstanding efforts of Heidi Yohe (Deer Park, Wash.) and Aylene Ilkson (Baldwin, N.Y.), the Springfield College women's volleyball team picked up a big conference win against the Coast Guard Academy in four games on Tuesday evening in New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference action. The Pride won by the scores of 30-27, 30-28, 25-30, and 36-34. With the win, Springfield now stands at 14-6, 3-2 in league play while the Bears, who had their 11-match winning streak snapped, fall to 12-3, 4-1

In the first game, after a solo block by Bethany Stosz (Amherst, Mass.) on Corinne McCormack knotted the game at 24, the Pride closed out the match on a 6-3 run to win that game. A pair of kills from Yohe led the way in the run while a double-block from Ilkson and Sarah Lang-Rodean (Mansfield Center, Conn.) shut the door on the Bears in game one.

Game two proved to go back and forth once again until the match was tied at 27-all after a kill from Stosz. A Coast Guard attack error and block from Stosz and Ilkson set the stage for a game-winning kill from Stosz to give the Pride a 2-0 advantage.

The Bears came out focused in the third game and raced out to a 6-1 lead. The Pride climbed back into the contest, tying the match at seven after a Coast Guard attack error. That would be as close as Springfield would get in that game as the Pride managed to hit .000 in the stanza to drop the third game.

In the fourth, Springfield jumped out to a 7-2 lead after a Lang-Rodean kill. Slowly, the Bears fought their way back until the match was tied at 10 all after a Nicole Gurr kill. The Bears would eventually take a 22-17 lead after a Springfield attack error, only to have the Pride tie the game at 22 after a Stosz kill. The Bears had a chance to win the game, serving for the win at 32-31, only to have a service error open the door for Springfield. An Ilkson kill put the Pride up 35-34 and the Bears then finished the match after an attack error ended their come-from-behind hopes.

Three members of the Pride recorded double-doubles in the match with Yohe leading the way with 17 kills and 23 digs. Ilkson added 15 kills and a match-high 27 digs while Kelsea Hellyar (Fairhaven, Mass.) dished out 50 assists to go with 11 digs. Stosz also recorded 15 kills and added seven blocks and her classmate Lang-Rodean chipped in with 13 kills and three blocks.

Gurr led Coast Guard with a match-high 20 kills to go along with 15 digs, while McCormack finished with 15 kills and 16 digs for the Bears.

Springfield returns to action this Friday against Randolph in the first match of the Tom Hay Invitational at Springfield. First serve is slated for 4:30 p.m.

published: 10/02/2007